(by Steve Hopkins)
At the WTT Champions Montpellier, the best seeds fell one by one this week. American Kanak Jha dropped top seed Hugo Calderano on Wednesday – trailing twice before closing out the last two matches to win 3-2. Felix Lebrun (the third seed) lasted until Thursday, winning his opening match and then losing 3-2 to Simon Gauzy. Older brother Lebrun (Alexis) defeated second-seeded Tomokazu Harimoto 3-2 on Friday. This left only Truls Moregard as one of the top four seeds to advance to the semifinals.
The carnage wasn’t limited to the top seeds. All Chinese players in the men’s draw lost their opening matches – with Chun Yuanyu losing to Jang Woojin, Xiang Peng being upset by Patrick Franziska and Wen Rubio losing to Oh Junsung. Lin Yun-Ju fell to Jang Woojin of the Republic of Korea – Woojin then reached the semi-finals. Dang Qiu eliminated Benedikt Duda. Darko Jorgic lost to Alexis Lebrun – two consecutive setbacks for a French player who reached Sunday’s semi-final. And with the odds all around him, Sora Matsushima managed to fight his way through the draw by beating three well-known Euro players in a row (Lind, Franziska, Gauzy), but without having to face Felix Lebrun or Xiang Peng, both of whom got upset before facing him. Sunday’s men’s semifinals feature Jang Woojin vs. Sora Matsushima and Truls Moregard vs. Alexis Lebrun.
The unrest on the women’s side was even more pronounced. Chen Xingtong (World No. 3), Kuai Man (World No. 4), Zhu Yuling (World No. 6), Mima Ito (World No. 9) all lost in the opening round. Bernadette Szocs eliminated Chen Xingtong. Elizabeta Samara defeated Mima Ito. Adriana Diaz defeated Zhu Yuling and Kuai Man fell to Kim Nayeong. *None of those who eliminated the higher ranked player advanced beyond the next round – so the draw stabilized quite quickly as the remaining top players advanced. The semi-finals are Sabine Waters of Germany against Shin Yubin of the Republic of Korea and China’s Wang Yidi against Joo Sheonhui of the Republic of Korea.
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